2of 2Devoted Texans fan David Nagy, center, contributes to the incredible noise level achieved by a record Reliant Stadium crowd of 71,738 in support of the home team during the Texans' win over Cincinnati in the wild-card playoff game Saturday. The fans were rewarded with a 19-13 victory over the Bengals.Photo: Karen Warren, Staff

So that's what home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs would have sounded like?

In more than likely the last opportunity to see the Texans at home this season, a Reliant Stadium record crowd of 71,738 came to lend them their vocal cords.

Poor Andy Dalton, the Katy kid who starts at quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. His welcome home was loud but hardly welcoming. The Bengals' offense had the ball for only a little more than one-third of the game, much of which Dalton spent scurrying from one teammate to another at the line of scrimmage to shout plays into their ears because they couldn't hear his audible calls over the crowd noise.

Combine that with the fact the Texans' defense for the first time in weeks lived up to its "Bulls on Parade" reputation and it's no wonder the Bengals' offense scored no touchdowns, converted no third-down situations into first downs in nine attempts and would have had no chance to win if the Texans' offense had been as bullish as the defense.

"They were on fire from the moment we walked in there for pregame all the way to the finish," cornerback Johnathan Joseph said after the Texans' 19-13 victory. "I think that's big when you're at home because it wears down a team offensively. Little (mistakes) start to slip in … from that standpoint, I think the home crowd was fantastic."

"We love it when they're loud," defensive end J.J. Watt said. "We appreciate what they do for our defense and for our team. The fan base knows how to bring it in a playoff game, and we appreciate that."

It's too bad the Texans didn't have 71,738 game balls to pass out to the fans. Instead, they will have to settle for visions of what might have been if the Texans had played well enough in the last month of the regular season to earn more than one home playoff game, leading, if all went well, to the Super Bowl game in New Orleans.

What might have been

All the Texans had to do to set up that dream scenario was win two of their last four games to be the top seed. That hardly seemed unachievable since they had won 11 of their previous 12. They won one of the last four.

Instead of hosting Baltimore or Indianapolis next Sunday, the Texans have to travel to New England.

Couldn't they just accept their parting gift now?

If you've been following the Texans, you no doubt remember what happened the last time they ventured into the Patriots' Gillette Stadium. It wasn't a close shave as the Texans lost 42-14.

They lost that Dec. 10 game for multiple reasons, first among them being that the Patriots are one of the few teams inarguably better than the Texans. But the Texans lost two of their next three, against Minnesota and Indianapolis, for the same reason they couldn't put away the outmanned Bengals until a little more than two minutes remained Saturday. The Texans' offense has gone missing in action.

A hug will do, Bob

There were some superlatives from the offense.

Arian Foster carried the ball 32 times for 140 yards, becoming the first running back in NFL history to gain more than 100 yards in his first three playoff games, and scored a touchdown.

Benefiting from a more varied passing attack that didn't rely as much on wide receiver Andre Johnson, Foster also caught eight passes for 34 yards. Tight end Owen Daniels led Texans receivers with nine catches for 91 yards. Johnson caught four for 62 yards.

The offensive line, much maligned after allowing 10 sacks in the past three games, allowed none to the Bengals.

When Foster ran for his final 10 yards for the first down with less than two minutes remaining that clinched the victory, Texans owner Bob McNair said he wanted to run onto the field and kiss him.

"Don't get me wrong," Foster said, "Bob's a good guy. I don't want a kiss from Bob, though. A nice little hug would do."

Foster also would have appreciated it if the offense had gotten more love from the crowd. As loud as the fans were in support of the defense, they were equally loud on more than one occasion in booing the offense.

"I love our crowd," Foster said, "but they are getting spoiled."

Some boos for offense

Some booing was directed toward Matt Schaub, who didn't play particularly poorly in the first playoff start of his nine-year career, but he threw an interception the Bengals returned for their only touchdown. He also underthrew Johnson in the end zone. If completed, it would have been only his second touchdown pass in the last 23 quarters.

Most of the booing was directed at coach Gary Kubiak's play-calling.

He implored the team last week to play Saturday with reckless abandon. But, with a few exceptions, he again coached conservatively, especially within the red zone when he seemed satisfied with field goals. Shayne Graham kicked four, three from inside the Bengals' 20-yard line.

In the last four games, the Texans have scored three offensive touchdowns and kicked 14 field goals.

Kubiak, of course, could point to the scoreboard Saturday and spend the next few hours celebrating a playoff victory before turning his attention to the Patriots. Maybe they will be overconfident.

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